Termina Tales: Waiting and Promises
by Deltoran Merchant
Summary: A very quick story about a conversation between Link and Kafei, as they talk about the girls they have waiting for them and the promises they made. I had an idea, and I had to write it out.


**Termina Tales:**

**Waiting & Promises**

Link sat behind the rocks with Kafei in front of the cliffside that concealed the entrance to Sakon the Thief's hideout. They were a somewhat mismatched pair, Link, a twelve year old boy with blond hair, blue eyes, a leanly muscular body, and dressed in a simple green tunic and brown boots, next to Kafei, a boy of the same age with shoulder-length purple hair, a slim build, though with some strength to it, and elegant clothes that were several sizes too big. To make the contrast even sharper, Link had a long sword and mirror-like shield strapped to his back via bandolier; that this young warrior would be in the bleak Ikana Canyon with a noble boy seemed almost ludicrous, and yet it was true.

The truth was Kafei was a man who'd been cursed into childhood again by an imp known as skull kid using an evil mask; a man on the way to his wedding no less. What Kafei was concerned about though was not his body, but the fact that a thief named Sakon had stolen his wedding mask, and now after assuring Link had managed to get his bride-to-be to remain in Clock Town despite an impending apocalypse caused by the very same imp who'd cursed him, he was having Link assist him in retrieving his mask.

But first they had to wait for the thief to open his hideout. While they waited they'd begun to talk, and Link found he actually rather liked his new acquaintance. "You know… this isn't the end," Link said, "In fact I've helped you before."

"What do you mean?" Kafei asked, sounding quite confused.

"Termina, until I release all four Giants and call them to the right place, I've placed it in a time loop."

"I don't understand."

Link pulled out his ocarina, a blue oblong instrument known as the Ocarina of Time for its ability to control time with certain songs. "This instrument, there is a song I can play with it that causes Termina's timeline to loop back on itself so that I return to the point when I first arrived here three days ago. Termina goes through the same three days over and over again. In fact I explained this to you when I first met you in the Curiosity Shop… but that was several loops ago."

"You're saying that you've been controlling time to keep Termina safe while you work to end its problems?" Kafei asked.

'I'm glad he's more than a rich pretty boy,' Link thought. "In a nutshell, yes. I feel bad for doing it; for reversing people's lives and controlling them, for choosing who to help each time… but what else can I do?"

"Link," Kafei said, though Link continued to vent.

He'd been holding this in for almost three weeks now, three weeks of the same three days, and he couldn't stand it anymore. "This is exactly what He would want to do; to force people to live the same thing over and over while he treated them like toys. That's all I'm doing to you. Even Sakon there, when I first started these loops I stopped him from carrying out a heist, then I had to be elsewhere the next loop, so he got away with it. What kind of warrior am I who imprisons a whole land in its final three days?"

"Link," Kafei said again, louder this time, but he went on ignored again.

"And now seeing you do all this for Anju, while she waits for you… I feel bad that not only do I increase the wait each time, but I increase the amount of time Zelda waits for me back home. I wouldn't blame her if she was ashamed of me for doing this though, for acting like the King of Darkness himself."

"Link! Stop!" Kafei said, as loudly as he dared, covering the warrior's mouth with his hand. "If forcing us all to do this over and over is the only way for you to save us, then that's the way it has to be."

"You're not mad?"

Kafei shook his head, "If what you're saying is true then I'm sure I can say on behalf of Termina, we forgive you. Indeed I think we should thank you. While they may be the same three days, at least we've survived longer because of them looping. I don't hold necessary actions against you, and I don't believe they make you the same as whatever madman you're talking about."

"Really?" Link asked feeling relieved.

"Yes. And I'm certain this girl would tell you the same. Speaking of which, I think I'd like to know more about her."

"Zelda? Oh she's… heh," Link began, feeling happy just thinking about her. "She's the most beautiful girl I've ever met, I think the most beautiful girl in Hyrule. She's sweet and kind and wise well beyond her years. We saved her kingdom together from a madman who would make Skull Kid run away in terror from."

"Wait, her kingdom? What do you mean?"

"Oh, she's the princess of Hyrule."

"So the brave, handsome knight wins the heart of the beautiful princess eh?" Kafei asked cheekily, causing Link to turn red.

"You're girlfriend's a princess?" came a tiny, female voice from Link's pocket.

A glowing white orb with wings appeared and let out a yawn as it hovered up to join the two of them. "Oh hey Tatl, what've you been doing?" Link asked.

"I fell asleep when you guys started talking about boring stuff and that mushy junk."

"Oh, well yeah, Zelda's a princess. She gave me the Ocarina of Time actually. I feel like she's always with me as long as I have it. I promised her I'd come back to her one day, that's what the Ocarina means to me."

"Is that why you're so committed to helping me retrieve my mask?"

"Partially, I couldn't turn down someone in need anyways, but I understand what a promise means."

He didn't say it, but while he understood a promise, he didn't understand why Anju needed a pendant to be aware of it, or why Kafei felt he needed to give it to her; Link figured one's word should be enough, and that had been a source of confusion for him when Kafei first handed him his pendant and asked him to give it to Anju.

"If Zelda is anything like Anju, then I'm sure she'll wait for you as long as she has to."

"I know she will. And until I find my way home I will continue to help people in need; whether it be a sword to defend them or a hand to help them."

"If I have a son with Anju, I hope he turns out like you," Kafei said.

"Aw come on you two, you're going to make me barf," Tatl chimed in again.

"Didn't you once say you made a promise to protect Tael?" Link asked.

"Shut up! That's different."

"How?" Kafei asked.

"You're just two little mortals, you wouldn't understand fairy stuff," Tatl replied huffily.

"So Link, if this Zelda means so much to you, why did you leave?"

"I… lost a friend. I wanted to find her," Link answered sadly, "I'd been searching for about a month when I ended up here."

"I see, well I hope you find her."

Link sighed and looked down at the river behind them that ran into the swamp. The whole of Ikana reminded him of home, or a version of his home that had been utterly decimated. There were things that were particularly reminiscent of home though; the Royal Family, the Composer Brothers, even the Stalchildren which used to roam Hyrule Field at night, though he found their numbers had dwindled greatly in the time before he left.

"Well here he comes," Kafei said, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Anju's waiting, so I have to fulfill my promise."

'And one day Zelda,' Link thought, holding his ocarina tightly, 'I'll fulfill mine.'


End file.
